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Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Tournaments-Part 8 – US Cup (1993)

Much
like its first edition in the previous summer, the 1993 US Cup was not only a
dress rehearsal for the following year’s World Cup on American soil, but it was
also served as necessary preparation for an American National Team in a Nation
with no professional League of its own.

The
1992 Edition was in comparison a lighter Tournament with only Italy being
considered as a major Football Power.

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(US
Cup’93 Logo)

However,
with only a year remaining to the main event, the US authorities went all out
to include high profile Teams to raise awareness in the Nation.

Football
powerhouses Brazil, Germany (defending World Cup Champions) and England were
invited to compete with the hosts USA.

The
American squad under Yugoslavian Manager Bora Milutinovic (since 1991) were
improving though they were restricted in a never-ending series of friendly
matches (remember no Pro League), while its few professionals stayed in Europe
to play in the competitive Leagues.

Just
like the 1992 Edition, Milutinovic was eager to call-up his best possible squaf
that included the foreign based players such as John Harkes, Tab Ramos, Roy
Wegerle, Eric Wynalda and Thomas Dooley, among others.

Brazil,
under Carlos Alberto Pareira, were ambitious to end their near 24 year World
Cup drought and saw this as an ideal opportunity to get accustomed to the
playing conditions in America (the same could be said of Germany and England).

Brazil
would be having a busy few months. Just like the Americans, the Brazilians
would also compete in the Copa America later in the same month at Ecuador
(though with a mostly home based squad). The objective for Brazil was also the
World Cup qualifiers in following months (July/August/September). Brazil would
be without a number of its stars who would be unavailable, these would include
Romario (in dispute with C.A. Pareira), Bebeto and Mauro Silva (the pair were
with Spanish Club Deportivo La Coruna and the League matches were still
ongoing), ditto for Ricardo Rocha (Real Madrid).

In addition Pareira was unable to call upon Palmeiras and Corinthians
players still involved in League competition.

Germany,
under Berti Vogts, were also constrained to friendly matches as defending
Champions. They had assembled a near full strength squad. They were missing the
Bayer Leverkusen pair of Andreas Thom and Ulf Kirsten, as well as AS Roma
midfielder Thomas Haessler. The trio had Cup Final matches to contend with
their respective clubs. In addition, Lazio’s Thomas Doll was out of favor, as
Vogts had lost patience with his inconsistency with the National Team.

Since
the 1992 Euros, German goalkeeper Bodo Illgner had also lost his automatic
starting position and Vogts hab been alternating him and Andreas Kopke in the
lead up to the World Cup and needless to say in this competition both would be
tested.

England
came under a dark cloud. Graham Taylor’s side had been struggling in the World
Cup qualifiers and just days prior lost at Norway (0-2 on June 2nd)
and tied (1-1) in Poland.

They
were calls for Taylor’s sacking and the performances in this competition would
only increase the pressure.

The
English were also without Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer and Captain Stuart
Pearce, while David Platt was carrying an injury.

The
Tournament kicked off on June 6th at Yale Bowl at New Haven, Connecticut.

The
American hosts started without foreign-based players such as Ramos, Dooley,
Klopas and Wynalda (all unavailable for this match), but did have the English
based Harkes and Wegerle.

For
Brazil, Bayern Munich’s Jorginho was rested and Captain Rai did not start.

Antonio
Careca captained the side in Rai’s absence. Just two days prior on June 4th,
Carlos Alberto Pareira had added five Sao Paulo players to his squad following
their elimination from the Sao Paulo state championship.

Careca
would give Brazil the lead in the 5th minute.

Branco
took a free kick from the left side. The American defenders tried to play the
offside trap and rushed out. The ball went to the right hand side touchline to
Marcio Santos, who then crossed for Careca to score. The American players
immediately protested to the referee for an offside decision but to no avail.

Brazil
generally controlled the rest of the match and were untested. Elivelton came close to score Brazil’s
second by striking the post. The US were playing with five men in defense with
only Jean Harbor upfront and had little of the play.

With
just three minutes remaining, Dunga lobbed a cross into the box for Luiz Carlos
Winck to score the second.

The
Americans admitted the gulf in class between the sides and expressed that this
was part of the learning process.

Three
days later on June 9th, the American hosts took on England at Boston, Massachusetts.

With Stuart Pearce
unavailable for this Tour and David Platt rested for this match, Graham Taylor
appointed Paul Ince with the captaincy. Ince became the first black player to
captain England.

The Americans were facing an
England side still troubled by their recent loss at Norway and fully took
advantage.

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(June 9, 1993, US Cup, USA 2-England 0)

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(June 9, 1993, US Cup, USA 2-England 0)

Just like in 1950, England
suffered another humiliating loss to the Americans.

In the 43rd minute
the Americans took the lead through Thomas Dooley. Jeff Agoos’ cross from the left side was
met by Tab Ramos on the right far post. He crossed it back for Dooley to score
with a diving header.

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(June 9, 1993, US Cup, USA 2-England 0)

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(June 9, 1993, US Cup, USA 2-England 0)

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(June 9, 1993, US Cup, USA 2-England 0)

Photo From: Forever England, A History
of the National Side, Authors Mark Shaoul, Tony Williamson

(Jeff Agoos and
Paul Ince, June 9, 1993, US Cup, USA 2-England 0)

England
had chances to tie the match, but American goalkeeper Tony Meola was in
excellent form and thwarted many attempts by Ian Wright and Nigel Clough. In
all Meola made 15 saves in the match.

Meola
would later claim that on every corner, Ian Wright would be trash talking and
tell him that he had never played in England and that he was too fat.

USA
sealed the win in the 72nd minute when Ramos’ corner from the left
side was headed in by Alexi Lalas.

Despite
the significant victory, USA Manager Milutinovic tried to downplay the result
saying that it was nothing more than a win and he would much prefer to win
matches next year in the World Cup.

For
his part, Taylor hoped this would be a turning point in England’s fortunes and
tried to minimize the result as well by saying the main purpose of the Tour was
to gain experience. The English
Press/Tabloids were not as understanding and pilloried him.

Brazil scored their first
goal in the 13th minute when Thomas Helmer deflected Elivelton’s shot into his
own net.

In the 32nd
minute, Helmer compounded on his error by fouling Elivelton in the penalty
area, and Careca scored from the spot kick. This was Antonio Careca’s last ever
goal for Brazil. Minutes later in the 37th minute, Careca set up
Luisinho on a breakaway to score Brazil’s third.

At halftime, Vogts was calm
and urged his team to forget about the first half and raise their game.

The Germans staged a
remarkable comeback in the second half. For the start of the second half, Vogts
took off Matthias Sammer and replaced him with an extra attacker Karl-Heinz
Riedle. He would partner Klinsmann upfront who had been isolated as a lone
striker in the first half.

The Germans were able to
slowly get into the game in this half as Brazil grew tired after such an
excellent start.

They scored their first goal
in the 66th minute. Christian Ziege, making his debut for Germany,
sent a through ball for Klinsmann to score.

In the 80thminute, Substitute Michael Schulz took
a shot that was deflected back to his head and was then diverted into the
goalmouth. Brazil goalkeeper Taffarel punched the ball out but it reached
Andreas Moeller who chested it and scored.

In the last minute, Michael
Schulz took a throw- in that took a bounce on the surface and went over
everyone’s head and Klinsmann headed it in for the equalizer.

It had been a spectacular
match that had delighted both the crowd and the Tournament organizers as an
advertisement for the game.

This would turn out to be
Brazil defender Julio Cesar’s last match for Brazil. He quit the squad two days
later (June 12th). He reported that four of his expensive watches
and £30,000 in cash were stolen from his hotel room.

Other Brazilians (Careca and Valber) and German
players would also report of thefts in their respective hotel rooms.

Julio Cesar complained that England and Germany were
staying in luxury hotels while the Brazilian Federation had housed them in a
cheap hotel.

On June 13th, England salvaged some pride
with their performance against Brazil at Washington, DC’s RFK Memorial Stadium (notably Des
walker back in form after some dismal displays).

Goalkeeper Tim Flowers made
his debut for England and David Platt was back in the side. It was Platt, who
gave England the lead in the 47th minute. He had just come on in the
start of the second half replacing David Batty.

Lee Sharpe took a corner from
the right side. He passed to Andy Sinton at the edge of the box, who in turn
lobbed a cross into the box for Platt to head home.

Brazil tied the match in the
77th minute from a corner as well. Almir’s corner from the left side
was met by Marcio Santos who scored with a downward header. This was perhaps
the least spectacular match of the Tournament according to most observers.

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(Tim Flowers
and Cafu, June 13, 1993, US Cup, Brazil 1-England 1)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2463,
June 22, 1993

(Valber and Ian Wright, June 13, 1993, US Cup,
Brazil 1-England 1)

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(June 13, 1993, US Cup, Brazil 1-England 1)

On
the same day at Chicago’s Soldier Field, USA took on Germany. Germany’s
domination was emphatic in a match where German captain Lothar Matthaus was
earning his 100th Cap.

Photo
From: Soccer
International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(Lothar
Matthaus being honored for playing in his 100th cap, June 13, 1993,
US Cup, USA 3-Germany 4)

Germany
took the lead in the 14th minute. Jurgen Klinsmann headed in from a
corner by Lothar Matthaus from the left side.

The
ending had been a disappointment for the Germans who were dominant for most of
the match. Berti Vogts called the first 70 minutes as Germany’s best in the
Tournament and added, “we seemed to remember that we would be back here in 12
months and started giving goals away”.

Vogts
was satisfied with the teamwork and blamed the goals on individual errors. He
was dissatisfied of Germany having given up six goals in their two matches and
felt Olaf Thon’s absence was the contributing factor.

The
Germans lost Jurgen Kohler to injury. The following day Bayer Leverkusen’s
Christian Worns was called up to replace him.

The
last match of the Tournament was set for June 19th between old
rivals England and Germany at Pontiac’s
Silverdome (Indoor) Stadium in Michigan (under 92 percent humidity).

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(View in the indoor stadium, June 19, 1993, US
Cup, Germany 2-England 1)

The field was synthetic,
therefore a Grass pitch (in parts) had to be transported from California.
Afterwards Vogts and Klinsmann were impressed with the pitch and called it
‘perfect’.

This match would become the
first in America to
bring in more than 1 Million Dollars in gate receipts.

Germany scored
the winner early in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Ziege
struck the post with a low shot and Klinsmann picked up the rebound to score
his Tournament topping fourth goal. Klinsmann scored in all three matches and
was named the MVP (Most valuable Player)
of the tournament.

The win made Germany the
winners of the Tournament on points with Brazil close second.

Photo
From: World Soccer, Apri1 994

(Germany squad, June 19, 1993, US Cup, Germany
2-England 1)

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(Jurgen
Klinsmann, June 19, 1993, US Cup, Germany 2-England 1)

Photo
From: Soccer International, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 1993

(Karl-Heinz
Riedle, June 19, 1993, US Cup, Germany 2-England 1)

USA
faced a tougher competition than the previous year. After a predictable loss to
Brazil, there was some euphoria over the unexpected win over England and this
generated some buzz in the soccer un-friendly atmosphere of US media.

But
then the American came down to earth once more after the comprehensive loss to
Germany. Though the final scoreline (3-4) flattered the Americans and once
again raised some hopes in the media after the Americans were able to score two
late goals. But it was clear they had their work cut out for the following
year, despite playing at home.

The
attendance at the matches had been high above most expectations. The matches
had been entertaining in general with many goals. It was hoped this would go a
long way in combating American stereotypes of Soccer being a low scoring game.
It was estimated that $2 Million profit was made from the Tournament.

Photo
From: World Soccer, August 1993

(Lothar matthaus with the US Cup Trophy, June
19, 1993, US Cup, Germany 2-England 1)

The
Germans incidentally toured the USA once more in December and defeated USA once
more (December 18th, 1993, 3-0) in Palo Alto, California.

They
also faced Brazil once more in November 17, 1993 in Koln (2-1) win.

However,
the World Cup would end in heartbreak, as they would be eliminated to Hristo
Stoichkov’s Bulgaria in the quarterfinals.

The
Americans did meet their objective of qualifying from the Group phase in the
World Cup, the following year and the semi-competitive nature of the 1992 and
1993 US Cups must have helped.

For
the English, this competition was just too much for a tired squad. Many
questioned the long English Premier League season as an excuse but England’s
form had been wretched to begin with.

In
the end England would fail to qualify for the World Cup and Taylor would
resign.

By
the following summer, Brazil welcomed back Romario / Bebeto and ended their two
decades long quest to win the World Cup.